Meeko's Walt Disney World Trip December 2003
After arriving at Disneys Wilderness Lodge, my first stop for the day would be the Magic Kingdom.
The morning was still young and there were still many more attractions to do. I returned to Fantasyland to see how long of a wait Snow Whites Scary Adventures had. There was barely any line at all, so I got right on. I know that a lot of people think this ride is one of the lesser dark rides, but I like it. After the ride, it was 10am and the Jungle Cruise was open. I headed down to Adventureland and straight to the ride. Again, no line at all! Crowds were defiantly lower than Ive seen on any of my trips for the past few years. It had been a while since I had done the Cruise, so it was nice to see it again. The skipper (whose name was Pat, I believe) did a nice job as well with the jokes. Keeping those corny puns both fresh and funny is a true test of how good a skipper is and he passed the test well.
Next, it was on to Pirates of the Caribbean. I hadnt been on the ride since I saw the movie, so it was fun to go on the ride and pick out the homages to the ride that were in the movie (the dog with the key in the jail scene, the pigs, the redhead, etc.). Still not much of a line, though. It seemed like even though the weather was definatly improving, the crowds still seemed to be staying relatively small. I noticed Captain Hook and Mr. Smee nearby so I went and got their autographs and photos. Genie wasnt too far away either, so I got his photo as well. Having done all the attractions I had planned on doing at the park, I decided to head down to the Tip Board to see what other attractions had short lines. As I crossed the Hub, I noticed that the Castle show was now running. Apparently the weather let up enough that they felt they could perform. As I was going to the tip board, the Princess scene was just starting and I saw all the characters I has seen earlier performing in the show. Things all worked out well, I thought. I was able to both meet them and see them in the show. I noticed that Snow White who was freezing when I met her earlier had changed into her winter outfit between the meet-and-greet and show, which was good considering that it was even colder then than before. The Tip Board said that nothing had more than a 20 minute wait, so I headed to Tomorrowland.
In Tomorrowland, I saw that Timekeeper was open. For the past couple of times Ive been to the park this attraction has been closed, I thought about giving it a try again, but I decided to do Buzz Lightyear instead, I did pretty well on it and even got the highest score that Ive ever gotten before. After the ride, I looked around the new on-ride photo shop they added to the ride. Nice theming to the area, but the photo just wasnt worth buying for me. Since its not a thrill ride like Splash Mountain or Tower of Terror, the photo just wasnt terribly interesting. It would have been nice if they included the scores on the photos, but they didnt. There was still no line, so I went right back in and did it again. I wasnt quite as interested in my score this time, so I just relaxed and looked at the scenery, which Ive never done before. I noticed a lot of details that I never seen until then. It was actually very cool. Again, not a great on-ride photo and not nearly as high of a score, but still a lot of fun.
After the ride, I headed over to Mickeys Toontown Fair to see how it was decorated for Christmas. First stop was Mickeys House for a quick look around. After that, I decided to head over to the Toontown Hall of Fame meet-and-greet location. Most of the time, the lines have been so long here that I never bothered battling them. The crowds were so low everywhere else in the park though, so I thought Id give it a try. I got in the line for the Pooh characters room and was surprised to see that they were allowing everyone to go between all the rooms. I went into the Poohs room first where Pooh and Eeyore were. The line for Eeyore was pretty long, so I skipped him and got a picture of Pooh. Next, I went to the Princess room and got pictures of Cinderella and Suzy the Mouse. The Cast Member in the Princess room was very nice and even took pictures of me with each character with my own camera. Upon leaving the Hall of Fame, I ran into the White Rabbit right outside Mickeys House and got his photo as well. I seemed to be getting a good amount of characters, so I decided to take the train back to Main Street and see if I can find any more characters in Town Square.
After arriving in Town Square, I saw that there was no shortage of characters around. The first one I saw was Princess Aurora outisde the Expo Hall. Instead of her usual blue dress, she was wearing her pink gown which I had never seen her in before. She was so beautiful in it. I got her photo and went inside the Expo Hall. Usually, Ive managed to find a few Princesses here in the mid-mornings, so I thought Id take a look. Imagine my surprise when I found Jasmine, Cruella, Belle, and Wendy all together with no one else around. Cruella took one look at me and said in true Cruella fashion, I know you. I saw you earlier. Stop stalking me! Wendy also said that she remembered me as well. I thought it was incredible that they both recognized me with all the people that they must meet each day. I asked if I could get a photo of them all and they all agreed. That was one group shot I never expected I would get! After that, I saw Wendell and Shaker from the Country Bears over by the Fire Station. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to them, so they seemed very happy when I not only asked for a photo, but also called them both by their names (which not many people do, apparently).
It was almost noon and it was time for me to leave the Magic Kingdom and head to EPCOT. On my way out I took a look at all of the Mickey Statues they have around the entrance. All of the statues were very nice. The only one I thought looked bad was Rosie ODonnalds statue. I still dont get her yellow paint-splattered Mickey. The rest were good though. After that, it was onto the monorail to the TTC and off to EPCOT.
Hope everyone is enjoying my reports. 
Part two with my afternoon at EPOT is coming soon. 
